BEREA -- City Council plans to meet with Berea Municipal Court administrators in November, hoping to receive better financial news than what is now forecast.

Clerk of Court Raymond J. Wohl told council at a special meeting Monday the court is now working with a $39,000 deficit in court-cost revenue, with that number likely to double by the end of the year.

Wohl said traffic cases are down, resulting in less revenue for the court.

Any deficit must be made up by the various cities in the court district, but Berea bears the biggest burden because it is the host city.

The court handles cases for Berea, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township, Strongsville and the Cleveland Metroparks. The Ohio State Highway Patrol also is represented on cases that stem from incidents on parts of the Ohio Turnpike and Interstates 71 and 480. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department also contributes to court cases.

Wohl distributed a memo that showed Berea was down 455 cases as of June 30, 2013, compared to last year. Middleburg Heights has 178 fewer cases; Brook Park, 87; Olmsted Falls, 37; Metroparks, six; sheriff’s department, 110; and the state patrol, 63.

Those communities that saw increases in the same timeframe are Strongsville, 83, and Olmsted Township, 10. The figures total 843 fewer traffic/criminal cases from last year through June.

Council members asked Law Director James Walters, the only city administrator at Monday’s meeting, the reason for Berea’s decreased citations. He replied that a traffic enforcement officer is on a “very long” leave due to an injury.

“That was one of our main officers who handles traffic,” Walters said. “The others, if they see violations, they cite drivers. If they don’t see one, they (traffic violators) are not pulled over.”

Wohl said the court has a budget and it is “right on budget.”

Ward 3 Councilman Jim Maxwell repeatedly questioned Wohl about the revenue and what can be done on the expense side to balance the numbers.

“My best guess is $80,000 loss on the revenue side,” Wohl said. “I know what our expenses are. We take in X amount and we spend X amount. We will break even.”

However, the court projects a $80,000 loss in revenue unless it receives more money, especially from its cities’ police departments from increased ticket citations.

According to the city’s finance department, the court finished 2012 with a $42,525 operating loss. The court transferred $50,000 from one of its special revenue/special projects fund to cover the deficit.

Councilman-at-large Dale Lange also was unhappy with the court’s current figures.

“We are not going to set quotas for our police department to hit,” Lange said. “You are running a small business. Therefore, you have to do something like a sequester. Your revenue is down. What do you plan to do to cut expenses?”

The court is owed more than $1 million from people who have not paid their full court costs over the years. Councilman-at-large Dean W. Van Dress asked if the court could tack on interest to those who owe. Wohl said Ohio law does not permit that.

“We do have warrants, can suspend their licenses and license plates,” Wohl said. “There is a $25 fee.”

Wohl also said the court opens its doors on many Thursdays to accept payments from those who are fined.

“They are stacked out the door,” he said. “Some other courts are taking our lead in doing this.”

Van Dress presented another option in getting some of the money owed to the court.

“Have you ever tried to sell the bad debt?” he asked Wohl. “I’d look at trying to sell that debt. There is no sense carrying it forever.”

Last year the city asked the court to begin charging its employees for health care, since city employees now contribute 15 percent of the actual cost of providing health insurance through a payroll deduction. Judge Mark A. Comstock was adamant against that option when he attended a similar presentation before council last year. The court now picks up that 15 percent rather than having its 22 or more full-time court employees personally pay for all or part of their health care. Wohl said the court pays via a check for that cost to the city, which is put into a special fund.

Council members and the city administration have told court officials if court employees directly paid their own health care costs, that would lower the expenses of the court and any loss the cities would feel at the end of the year.

Maxwell called the court’s health insurance costs a “shell game.”

Lange said if court cases are down, work must be less. He suggested looking at the number of employees the court now has. Wohl said it did not work that way, and suggested having an executive session to discuss employees and salaries.

At the end of the meeting, Wohl said selling the debt was a possibility the court will consider.

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